Jonathan Beatty, head of Schwab Advisor Services, encouraged registered investment advisors (RIAs) attending Charles Schwab’s annual Impact conference to leverage the company’s capabilities to capture a vast market opportunity. He highlighted the $30 trillion in managed assets across the U.S. that remain outside the oversight of independent operators.
“There is over $30 trillion of managed wealth in the United States that still isn’t benefiting from the independent-minded guidance that you provide,” Beatty said. “It will take all of us, every firm in this industry, to capture that opportunity.”
Beatty made these remarks at Schwab Impact in Denver, the firm’s 35th annual conference for RIAs, which attracted more than 2,800 advisors outside the wirehouse, bank, and self-directed investment markets.
### Focus on Streamlining Services and Tools for Advisors
He also emphasized Schwab’s commitment to allocating the majority of new investments toward improving services and tools for advisors.
“We’re investing 90% of our resources toward reducing friction, streamlining workflow and elevating your digital experience,” Beatty said during the conference’s opening remarks. “We’ve invested over 100,000 hours of training and development for our service professionals that you work with every day. We want to deliver brilliant experiences to you and your clients.”
Schwab’s focus on ease of use and expanding RIA services arrives as the RIA sector continues to grow in both scale and complexity, presenting new opportunities and challenges for independent operators.
### Schwab’s Expansion and Program Updates
This year, it’s evident Schwab is aggressively pursuing part of that $30 trillion with its own wealth services. In September, the firm announced plans to open 16 additional retail branches across the U.S. and hire 400 related roles.
Additionally, following coverage by trade publication Citywire, Schwab confirmed it would raise the minimum client asset threshold for referrals to $2 million or more starting in 2026. This change will affect roughly 100 to 150 RIAs participating in Schwab’s referral program.
### Advocating Fiduciary Advice and Partnership
To the RIA audience in Denver, Beatty underscored Schwab’s efforts to promote fiduciary advice through its campaign, findyourindependentadvisor.com, as well as its lobbying activities in Washington, D.C., alongside the Investment Adviser Association.
Schwab remains the country’s largest RIA custodian, reporting $5 trillion in assets under custody in its advisor services unit, according to its third-quarter earnings report.
Beatty stressed that advisors could capitalize on Schwab’s scale and array of complementary services, including lending, trusts, and banking.
“That means that you can use personalized indexing, direct indexing, through a dual contract, and collaborate with the Schwab Asset Management team for client solutions,” he explained.
He also noted additional support is available for those who pay subscription fees for Schwab’s advisor membership program, Advisor ProDirect. This program offers guidance to new breakaway RIAs, ongoing business consulting, and access to third-party vendor products with potential discounts. Earlier in the day, Schwab announced that the program is now open to all RIAs custodied with the firm, not only to breakaways.
### Advisor Perspectives
Attendee Ed Gjertsen, founder and chief engagement officer of Engage Wealth in Northfield, Illinois, said the message of advisor service resonated strongly with him. He admitted there was initial concern about losing the responsive and personalized service teams that TD was known for.
“To Schwab’s credit, they spent a lot of time, a lot of money, a lot of energy getting feedback from those coming over from TD, and have executed quite well,” Gjertsen said. “We had a great service team at TD, and we were fortunate to grab most of our service team from TD.”
Brandon Hobson, chief investment officer at PracticeCFO in San Diego, which focuses on retirement plans for dental practices, appreciated Beatty’s emphasis on alignment with advisors.
“I like how he geared it toward the idea that, in order for us [Schwab] to succeed, we need you all to succeed, so let’s work together to go get these assets,” Hobson said.
However, Hobson acknowledged there are areas of friction his firm experiences when advising on and managing pension plans run through Schwab.
“Our clients don’t necessarily understand that friction,” he explained. “They are asking us, ‘Why is this so hard?’”
Hobson and a team member had attended a presentation on Schwab tools and capabilities. While they encountered others with similar challenges, they also “saw some things that made us pretty happy.”
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Charles Schwab’s continued investments and initiatives signal its commitment to supporting independent advisors and capturing a significant share of the vast market still underserved by independent fiduciaries. With new programs, expanded branch presence, and a focus on improving advisor experience, Schwab aims to empower RIAs to grow their businesses and better serve clients.
https://www.wealthmanagement.com/ria-news/schwabs-beatty-encourages-rias-to-chase-30t-outside-independent-management
